UK vs Germany Special
The UK vs Germany Special was an extra competition held at the end of Robot Wars: The Sixth Wars broadcast on BBC Choice on January 10, 2003 and repeated on BBC Two on April 4, 2003. It was also broadcast as part of German Robot Wars on October 26, 2002 on RTL II. It featured four British robots and four robots representing Germany, who fought in a tournament to determine which country had the best robots. It was repeated on Challenge on January 27, 2016. Format Like the Extreme Warriors Season 2 International Championship it was a straight knockout competition between eight robots, four representing each country, with the fights of the first two rounds being fought between robots representing the same country. Only the final offered a UK vs Germany encounter. Differences between versions The UK vs Germany special was one of three tournaments to be contested in multiple versions of Robot Wars. In the UK version, Craig Charles and Philippa Forrester presented, with Jonathan Pearce providing the commentary. In the German version, Jürgen Törkott presented and also interviewed the German teams before and after the German battles. Philippa's interviews with the UK teams remained intact, as did Craig's announcements after the UK battles, with translations provided by Volker Wolf, who also provided the commentary. At the end of the episode, Jürgen and Craig appeared together to interview their respective representatives and discuss the standard of German robots. The line-up shown below is that of the UK airing, which showed a UK battle, then a German battle, and so on. This was reversed in the German airing, so that a German battle was shown first, then a UK battle, and so on. Robots Competing UK Robots German Robots Round 1 Judge Shred 2½ (UK) vs 259 (UK) The two robots met, and immediately, a sliver of Judge Shred 2½ was torn free and hurled away by the huge spinning disc of 259. Judge Shred 2½ briefly got beneath the front of the disc and flipped 259 up into the air, only for 259 to smash through and buckle its flipper as it landed, rendering the flipper useless. 259 followed this up quickly by ramming into Judge Shred 2½ three more times, tossing it ahead of it and buckling its side armour. One of the right-hand armour plates was torn off, exposing the wheel, which 259 promptly destroyed, leaving Judge Shred 2½ only able to go around in circles. Sergeant Bash crossed the arena and joined Growler in menacing Judge Shred 2½, with Growler clamping down on Judge Shred 2½. However, they backed off and allowed 259 to continue attacking, which resulted in Judge Shred 2½ flying into the air and balancing against 259's flywheel. Wary of his robot, Adam Clark stopped his machine and waited until Refbot knocked Judge Shred 2½ free. However, 259 had stopped moving by now, and Growler pushed 259 into the pit release. Growler switched back to Judge Shred 2½ and pulled it out from the arena wall, holding it in front of Refbot, who counted it out. Growler seized Judge Shred 2½ by its mangled flipper and pushed it onto the floor flipper, where it was thrown through the air and onto its back. Growler then grabbed Judge Shred 2½ and held it over the flame pit, before finally pitting it. In the German version, 259 was shown to be pitted as well, but still qualified as Judge Shred 2½ had been immobilised first. Winner: 259 Delldog (Germany) vs Dynamite (Germany) Delldog entered the arena with a severe disadvantage. Its main weapon had broken down and the team were unable to get it working again, meaning it had to compete completely weaponless. Despite its lack of any weaponry, Delldog was quick off the mark and slammed into Dynamite's side, managing to dodge the powerful flipper. A second ram from Delldog alone managed to dent the wheelguard of Dynamite. Delldog then pushed Dynamite across the arena and into Dead Metal, who pushed Dynamite into the middle of the arena, slicing into its side. Delldog got itself briefly caught by Sir Killalot, but managed to slip past the House Robot and nudge Dynamite, who was immobile after the attack by Dead Metal. Refbot counted Dynamite out and Sir Killalot pushed it onto the floor flipper. Dynamite was hurled through the air and landed heavily, shattering parts of the thin armour. It was caught by Dead Metal and Sir Killalot, the former of whom sliced into the flipping mechanism. Sir Killalot then plucked Dynamite up and dropped it on its back, causing the armour shell to break off. It then picked it up and swung it around, bathing it in flames and shaking the armour completely off. Sir Killalot then dropped Dynamite over the arena wall. Winner: Delldog Corkscrew (UK) vs Fluffy (UK) The battle started slowly as both machines spun their weapons up on the spot. Fluffy struck the spinning Corkscrew, losing most of its weapons momentum, but knocking Corkscrew aside. Fluffy quickly recovered its weapon speed and struck Corkscrew's body, but accidently spun on its axis and slammed its side into Corkscrew's weapon. Recovering quickly, it slammed its spinning weapon into Corkscrew and knocked it decisively across the arena. Corkscrew's weapon had stopped spinning and this left it vulnerable to a follow up attack from Fluffy. Corkscrew spun around in circles, but could not get its own weapon's speed up. Growler then rammed into Corkscrew, causing it to bounce out of the CPZ and skid to a halt near the pit release. Fluffy slammed into Corkscrew, activating the pit in the process. Bash closed in, blasting its flamethrower, and it became apparent that Corkscrew had been immobilised. Refbot moved in and counted Corkscrew out, before Sergeant Bash and Growler pulled it away and the latter carried it across the arena. Corkscrew was placed on the arena floor flipper and hurled away, revealing a "no pants" slogan painted underneath. Growler seized it and dumped it into the pit, eliminating it from the competition. Winner: Fluffy Ansgar's Revenge (Germany) vs Das Gepäck (Germany) Das Gepäck started quickly, slamming into Ansgar's Revenge twice and pushing the shufflebot into Dead Metal. Ansgar's Revenge shifted its weapon, trying to keep Dead Metal from slicing into its body, but it was unable to escape with Das Gepäck continually slamming it into Dead Metal's CPZ. Sir Killalot closed in, grabbing Ansgar's Revenge's weapon and pulling it free of Dead Metal's grasp, before carrying it across the arena. Das Gepäck swiftly activated the pit, and Sir Killalot released Ansgar's Revenge in the centre of the arena. Ansgar's Revenge slowly moved backwards and forwards, but was unable to prevent Das Gepäck from pushing it into an angle grinder and ramming it there several times. Ansgar's Revenge shuffled away from the wall, while Das Gepäck slammed into the wall and bounced free. Still not showing signs of fluent movement, Ansgar's Revenge was pushed into Sir Killalot again, who attempted to cut and lift it before pushing it towards the pit. Das Gepäck attempted several times to pit Ansgar's Revenge as the battle drew to a close, but 'cease' was called, and the judges were called to make a decision. The decision unanimously went in favour of Das Gepäck. Winner: Das Gepäck Semi-Finals 259 (UK) vs Fluffy (UK) The opening stages of the battle were very tense, with both robots spinning their weapons up to speed and avoided premature contact. Finally, the two made light contact, with a piece of 259's front wheel guard shorn off. Fluffy spun around and attacked again, bouncing 259 and buckling its side skirt. This contact significantly hampered 259's mobility as it had caused a drive belt to slip straight off. Fluffy slammed into 259 again, before 259 limped away quickly, leaving its drive chain behind. Fluffy slammed into 259 again, knocking the other drive belt loose. 259 limped on, trying to land an attack on the side of Fluffy, but Fluffy's heavy weapon struck 259's and knocked it onto its side, immobilising it. Refbot moved in and counted 259 out, before Mr. Psycho closed in and slammed his hammer down twice, bending its chassis out of shape. Dead Metal then seized 259 and sliced into it, before pushing it into the pit release and into the pit. Winner : Fluffy Delldog (Germany) vs Das Gepäck (Germany) The two robots battered against each other, but with Delldog's weapon still not working, it became a battle of pushing. Despite an early push from Delldog, Das Gepäck easily won the pushing match and shunted Delldog into Mr. Psycho's CPZ. Delldog spun in circles, trying to use its weapon to ward off Mr. Psycho, and managed to slip through an opening before he could attack. Das Gepäck rammed into Delldog again, pushing it into Sgt. Bash, who shot flames at Delldog. Sgt. Bash then seized Delldog in his pincers, crushing through its armour and lifting it with his top pincer. Das Gepäck activated the pit, as Sgt. Bash carried Delldog out to Mr. Psycho, who slammed it with his hammer in an attempt to separate the two robots. After three attempts, Delldog was knocked free from Sgt. Bash, but sat immobile as the latter retreated into his CPZ. Das Gepäck slammed Delldog into the wall again before the latter was counted out, after which it pushed Delldog into the pit with ease. Winner: Das Gepäck Final Fluffy (UK) vs Das Gepäck (Germany) The fight Fluffy powered its weapon up, but neither robot attacked the other for a considerable amount of time, swerving around the arena in an attempt to get the right position. Fluffy's first contact smashed one of Das Gepäck's ramming spikes, severing its connection and letting it hang loose. Fluffy clipped Das Gepäck's sides a few more times, but no damage was done. Fluffy and Das Gepäck collided twice, the first collision knocking Fluffy askew, whilst the second tore a fragment of Das Gepäck's armour free. Das Gepäck then pushed into Fluffy's side, but abandoned this attack. Das Gepäck resumed its attack on Fluffy, whose weapon had stopped working. However, Das Gepäck's buckled spike slipped, causing it to lose purchase as it tried to push Fluffy. Das Gepäck pressed the pit release button instead, and the two robots entered a pushing match close to the descending pit. Fluffy resisted, getting its axe beneath Das Gepäck and allowing it to push back. Das Gepäck drove around the pit and tried to push Fluffy into Sergeant Bash, but got caught itself. Das Gepäck swiftly reversed out of Sgt. Bash's grasp and pushed back into Fluffy. Das Gepäck seemed to dominate the pushing match, with Fluffy ending the match on the flame pit. The decision Noel Sharkey, Mat Irvine and Martin Smith were called upon to decide the UK vs Germany champion. Based on the usual criteria of style, control, damage and aggression, they were unable to separate the robots on points, and thus declared the battle a draw. The decision was met with emphatic booing from the audience, while the trophy was handed to the Das Gepäck team, with promises of another being made for the Fluffy team. UK vs Germany Champion: Draw declared Trivia *Due to a lack of available entrants, only two of the German representatives were actually from Germany, with Dutch robot Das Gepäck and Loanerbot Dynamite being drafted in. *This is the only episode of the UK Robot Wars to have ended in a draw. *The German version of the episode was billed as Germany vs England, although Corkscrew was actually from Scotland. *The German version of the episode misspells Philippa Forrester and Adam Clark as Phillipa Forester and Adam Clarke, respectively. *During the battle between 259 and Judge Shred 2½, Refbot's head was completely misshapen. Category:The Sixth Wars Category:German Series Category:Episodes to contain an OotA Category:International Events